Blake's 'God Judging Adam' Rediscovered

There are two particular problems concerning William Blake's large colour-prints of 1795: first, whether their at first sight dis-parate subjects can be related to a single unifying theme, and, secondly, whether there was originally a thirteenth design to supplement the twelve which can be traced at present. A recent discovery at the Tate Gallery seems to answer the second question and may help to clarify the first. That the twelve designs known today, usually in more than one version, represent the full extent of Blake's scheme is supported by a letter of 5th June 1818, in which he offered Dawson Turner '12 Large Prints, Size of Each about 2 feet by 1 & I, Historical and Poetical, Printed in Colour'.' Another set had already been sold by Blake to his great patron Thomas Butts, eight titles being recorded in a debtor-creditor account between them under 5th July and 7th September 1805,2 while examples of eleven of the twelve known designs can be traced back to the Butts Collection. These include three of the four titles noted under 5th July 1805, `Good & Evil Angels', 'House of Death' and 'I.amech', all now in the Tate Gallery, and the four titles listed under 7th September 11305, 'Nebuchadnezzar', 'Newton', 'God Creating Adam'.